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In this book Dr. Malamud has systematized the material of psychopathology, the generalizations and theories of others in this field, and his own. To study it is to realize poignantly how much we have needed so carefully organized a text and treatise. In some respects, its execution may not always do full justice to the knowledge of the author nor the plan of his book. It would be equally instructive and more easily assimilated if the outline of psychopathological
data and terminology were less minute, if there were less repetition and qualification, if clinical illustrations were more abundant, if the effort to present and reconcile various viewpoints were less involved, and if the index were more complete. But one notes these imperfections, and some confusion about certain aspects of psychoanalysis (which we shall discuss later at length) because the book as a whole is important and because so well-qualified a psychopathologist has organized his subject so effectively.
The chapters are grouped under four main headings. In Part I, Dr. Malamud defines psychopathology as "a science that deals with the recognition, description, classification, and understanding of phenomena of abnormal mental activity" (p. 10, Glossary). He distinguishes psychiatry from psychopathology: the main objectives of psychiatry, according to his definition, are the demonstration of disturbed functions and their treatment; those of psychopathology are the discovery of the purpose and development of these abnormalities as reactions to special circumstances (pp. 27–8, Glossary). He discusses the scope of psychopathology, its application to nonmedical subjects, the techniques of investigation, and the evaluation of the data. Part II is a detailed description of abnormal mental symptoms, systematically classified as those of General Behavior, Reception (of environmental impressions), Intellection, and Experience. In Part III, the author considers the "phylogenetic" (i.e., hereditary), on